Authority: High Court of Manipur at Imphal

Order Date: 25-09-2026

Case Overview

  • Parties: Appellants/Applicants – President, All Manipur PWD Contractors' Association (L. Guni Singh) and President, All Tribal Contractors' Association (A.S. Clement). Respondents – State of Manipur, Engineer Chief (RED/MSRRDA), Union of India (Ministry of Rural Development), Director General of National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency, Bhartia Infra Projects Ltd (through Director Pawan Kr. Bhartia), Nirbhay Construction Limited (through Chairman Nirbhay Pratab Singh), and Sharma Bros, Scientific Instruments Co. (proprietor unnamed).
  • Nature of proceedings: Two writ appeals (WA No. 26/2026 and WA No. 27/2026) challenging two Miscellaneous Case orders dated 17‑09‑2026, which had rejected interim stays on Technical Bids Evaluation Reports and Revised Technical Bids Evaluation Reports for Notices Inviting Tender (NsIT) dated 10‑07‑2026 for 96 road‑construction packages.
  • Background: Earlier writ petitions W.P. (C) No. 689/2026 and W.P. (C) No. 695/2026 questioned the Tender Bids Evaluation Reports (dated 01‑09‑2026) and Revised Technical Bids Evaluation Reports (dated 10‑09‑2026) of respondents R5 (Bhartia Infra) and R6 (Nirbhay Construction). A separate writ petition W.P. (C) No. 680/2026 filed by R6 was pending before a Single Judge and was taken to the Supreme Court via SLP (C) No. 33857/2026.
  • Supreme Court order (24‑09‑2026) granted liberty to the petitioner to advance the matter before the Single Judge from 30‑10‑2026, directed the Single Judge to dispose of the writ petition within two months, and imposed a status‑quo on the respondents until disposal.
  • Counsel: Senior Advocates and Advocates General for the State (Mr. Lenin Hijam, Mr. M. Devananda) and counsel for respondents R5, R6, R7 accepted notice; notice to R7 was later dispensed.

Final Outcome

  • The Division Bench disposed of the two writ appeals, noting that the Supreme Court’s status‑quo order applies to the same NsIT tender involving all 96 packages.
  • The bench ordered that W.P. (C) Nos. 680, 689 and 695 be tagged together and heard jointly by the Single Judge, with the Supreme Court’s status‑quo (paragraph 5 of the 24‑09‑2026 order) extending to all three writ petitions.
  • The status‑quo is expressly extended to all 96 packages, superseding the earlier litigation that covered 81 packages.
  • Notice to Sharma Bros (R7) was dispensed in these writ appeals, but its rights remain preserved for any separate proceedings before the Single Judge.
  • The two Miscellaneous Cases (MC) associated with the impugned orders are declared otiose and closed without any order as to costs.
  • The court emphasized that the matter will proceed under the Supreme Court’s timeline and directives, ensuring expeditious disposal.

Topics: Legal Proceedings, Public Procurement